What is the Derbi Barceloni?

The Catalan Derby has a very long history

Spain is a complex country where people often take greater pride in their region than they do in their nation. It is full of contrasting regional identities and those really do manifest themselves on the football pitch and in the stands, not least on derby day. The other major cities have rivalries that have historically been quite remarkable but this derby between Barcelona and Espanyol has much more than football involved into it.

Also known as El Derbi, El Derbi Barcelones’ or most renownedly The Catalan Derby, in the first half of the 20th century during the Miguel Primo de Rivera dictatorship (1923–1930), FC Barcelona was the embodiment of the oppressed Catalan sentiment, in stark contrast to RCD Espanyol which cultivated a kind of compliance to the central authority.

The Catalan Derby

In 1918, the municipalities of Catalonia promoted a campaign to request the Spanish Government a Statute of Autonomy. FC Barcelona joined that request and the Catalan press explained it by saying "FC Barcelona has become the club of Catalonia". The other team of the city, RCD Espanyol were dissociated from the claim.

On numerous occasions RCD Espanyol have complained of an unfavorable treatment which is sometimes directly offensive according to them, towards the club in favor of FC Barcelona by some public media dependent on the Generalitat of Catalonia like TV3.

Despite these differences in ideology, the derby has always been more relevant to Espanyol supporters than Barcelona ones due to the difference in objectives. The Derbi Barceloni has always been a feisty encounter with Barcelona having most of the upper hand in between the two teams but this is also one of the oldest rivalries in football dating back to 1929 in which Barcelona defeated Espanyol by 1-0. It has been one of the most one-sided rivalries in European football with FC Barcelona being the dominant force but their rare derby slip-ups have often been memorable.

El Tamudazo

One such fond memory for the Espanyol fans was etched into history when they 2-2 draw at Camp Nou in a match dubbed “El Tamudazo” as visiting forward Raúl Tamudo scored a brace late in the season which proved decisive in Barcelona’s failure to win the league. They’ve not had much to shout about since but Espanyol supporters at the RCDE Stadium, are hoping to finally close the gap on their great rivals again, having briefly dropped into the second tier in 2020. Espanyol lost 1–0 to Barcelona on 8 July 2020 to be relegated to the Segunda División for the first time since 1994.

In the league table, Espanyol has only managed to finish above Barça on three occasions in almost 70 years and the only all-Catalan Copa del Rey final was won by Barcelona in 1957. Espanyol has the consolation of achieving the largest margin win with a 6–0 in 1951.

Xavi has the most number of appearances in this derby (36, from 1998-2015) while Lionel Messi happens to be the top scorer in the history of this derby with 25 goals and also the second highest appearance maker behind Xavi.

These two clubs have faced 214 times overall in major competitions out of which Barcelona have won a mammoth 125 times while RCD Espanyol have got the better of them for 44 times. They have played out a drawn within themselves 45 times.

There are plenty more notable derbies around Spain but this fixture is always an emotion for the rivals between the same city.